I’ve been on this “makeup ban” for almost 5 complete months now so I thought it was about time for a quick review and recap over what has happened/changed since I started this project on January 1st.

1. I failed miserably with the no clothing ban.

I’ve bought a trench, a purse, 2 dress shirts, 4 dresses, a cardigan, a skirt, and a pair of ballet flats. Obviously, I had to put a stop to the ban right away because there was no way I could justify all of that.

2. I’ve done pretty well on the makeup front. I’ve only bought products that I really had no alternative to- for example I used up all of my concealer and finally took the plunge and bought the bobbi brown corrector and concealer (okay, that’s two things) and I love it.

3. However, I was gifted makeup by my boyfriend so that made it loads easier for me. To be fair though, it was a foundation and an eyelash curler (does that count as makeup?).

4. I’ve been able to buy cosmetic “non-makeup” items like the MAC cosmetics Studio Fix+ Spray and Brush Cleanser, nailpolish, and hair accessories.

Overall, I still think I’m doing a great job and I’ve definitely noticed that I’m not as makeup-obsessed as before. I really have come to appreciate what I already have so much more and have found ways to use products in different ways. I feel better off financially and I feel less guilty for doing other things like eating out, etc.

Anywho, I wanted to keep this short and simple. Thanks so much for reading!

So in my last post, I showed how my side table/dresser housed my everyday makeup on one side. Today, I’m going to do a quick post on my lotions, fragrances, and jewelry on the other side of my table.

On the left side of my table I have my Tarte “The Starlet Limited-Edition Makeup Vanity” from their 2011 Holiday collection. I no longer have any makeup in this and have repurposed it as my jewelry box. It’s a truly beautiful box. It has a top compartment that flips open and two drawers. It also has all mirrored sides and the the mirrors are of great quality as in there isn’t any odd warping or anything like that. For a better look at this, I have found a great youtube review on this palette which you can see by clicking here.

Now on to the jewelry organization. First off, I didn’t bring that much jewelry to college because a) I don’t wear that much to begin with and b) If anything was stolen, I wouldn’t be too heart broken. Because of this I am able to keep most of my jewelry in one place (except for a few long necklaces that I keep on a 3m command hook to keep from tangling).

Also, if you’re wondering what the zebra print in the mirror is, that is my bed! 🙂

Hello! I am so sorry for not having a fresh new post in more than a week! Agh, but I promise I have a good story to tell in an upcoming post. Now on to today’s post:

Living in small places, such as a dorm or a small studio apartment, can be quite a challenge sometimes. It takes a certain skill to balance how to personalize your place without cluttering it up. Now, some may think that you should only bring the bare necessities to college, and that’s fine, but for me, I truly believe that a dorm should feel a little bit like home. It should be comfortable and personal, a place of rest for your body and mind. With that being said, I have finally come up with a new topic to talk about for the next couple of weeks: my dorm. Basically I’m going to show how I’ve set up my dorm room, how I organize it, how I decorate it, and things that I have found useful or not so useful to bring to college.

I live in a double, which means that there are two people in the room. We each have a twin bed and a desk at the end in front of our closets. We also have a 3 drawer chest that doubles as a side table next to our beds and a two drawer storage area underneath our bed.

Today, I’ll be focussing on my desk- arguably the most important place for a successful college life. For my desk, I like to keep it solely school related. I find that having too many things stuffed into drawers is distracting and may cause me to lose important assignments. I also like to keep my desk top clear except for my desk lamp, my computer, and all my school books (having them all in front of me serves as a constant reminder of the work I need to do). I also have a router (we don’t have wifi because of our ugly concrete walls) that I actually keep on the post of my bed.

My cute little stuffed monkey is the only piece of decor I keep on my desk. 🙂

I also love using 3m command hooks. These are super useful in creating extra space to hang various items so you don’t lose them, while not damaging walls as to comply with most dorm rules. At the side of my desk I keep my school bag on a command hook (Michael Kors Quilted Hamilton). This is a great spot so that I can grab it on the way out of my room and unpack it at the end of the day.

On my other bed post, I keep reusable grocery bags since the county I live in has outlawed plastic shopping bags.

My desk has 3 drawers, 2 on top are a good size, and the bottom one is huge (I know it’s cut off in the picture, but it’s about double the depth of the other 2).

In my first drawer I keep my writing utensils, which for this semester is just a pack of my favorite Pilot G2 ink pens in 8 different colors. I also keep highlighters, dry erase board markers, some sharpies, scissors, tape, stapler, paperclips, and other various office supplies that I reach for on a frequent basis. I bought the white drawer organizer fromt the dollar store and I highly recommend using something like this to organize school supplies versus a pencil holder.

In my second drawer, I keep my four folders for my classes, which I have talked about before in this post. They are the Mead trapper keeper folders in various colors. I also keep two sets of cards in case I need to write a letter to anyone.

In the bottom drawer, I keep a billabong backpack, a Mickey Mouse binder, a Mead binder/notebook, and my Michael Kors laptop sleeve.

For the wall next to my desk, I have put up a whiteboard decal calendar and memo board. I also have 2 more command hooks to hang my keys and umbrella.

I told you those concrete walls were ugly!

That’s how I have my desk area set up. I’m quite satisfied with it and have found it an effective studying area that keeps me motivated and on top of my tasks. How do you keep your desk area organized?

I feel as though my “no spending for a year” is pretty similar to a diet- instead of food, it’s makeup and clothes! Now, this is pretty tough, I have definitely cut my spending by a lot (more than half) since I started and my perspective has slowly changed as well.

I used to watch youtube “my makeup collection” videos and I used to be extremely jealous of all the makeup other people had. Now, I’m not really jealous at all. Sometimes too much is simply too much. After seeing someone, I won’t name who, who had a whole cabinet devoted solely to lip products, I was really happy I didn’t have that much. There were about 9 drawers full of lipstick, lipgloss, and lip treatments (and this was after she gave away 70% of her stuff). Needless to say, maybe I am a bit jealous of her nicer items, but overall it just seemed a bit bizarre to have that many lip products. I’m lucky if I get through 4-5 tubes a YEAR. Compared to some, I have a reasonable amount, and by reasonable I mean ONE traincase of makeup, not completely filled up. Still, that is too much to me because I hate throwing away makeup that I haven’t really used (that expired) because I was busy using all my other products. By the end of this year my goal is to have 2-5 items of any “type” of product, i.e. foundation, powder, eyeshadow palettes, lip stick, lip gloss, or blush.

Pretty much all my makeup (a few things are back in my bf’s apartment in Boston)

So I’ll be starting a “series” ( I don’t know what to call it) of what I do have, so yes, it is my own “makeup collection”.

However, on the clothes aspect of things, I really don’t have a lot, but still I don’t want to buy random stuff that I’ll only wear for a season just because I found it on sale (I want to find something on sale that is timeless :)) So I was thinking like a diet, maybe I can do one “cheat day” a month. Obviously, I can’t just buy everything on that day (that would ruin the point of my project) but I can buy ONE item that cannot exceed in price over $50 that I can justify by using it for AT LEAST two years. I feel by letting myself have one cheat item a month I will be less tempted to buy things and it can be a little “reward” for sticking to my plan.

Now that classes have resumed (oh, winter holiday why’d you have to go so soon?), I’m back to my morning routine of pressing the snooze button 7 times in a row before finally waking up, splashing some water on my face, brushing my teeth, quickly putting makeup on while drinking coffee, eating yogurt, and then rushing out the door. Needless to say, I spend very little time putting on makeup for class. Still, I try to look decent (allright, decently hygienic) so that I don’t scare people away.

Here are the few products that I have found that are easy to put on and doesn’t smudge everywhere!